Products sent to me for review. All opinions are my own.
Lately, it seems that silicone nail art mats are all the rage in the nail art community. I have been torn as to how to feel about the mats. On one side, I find it super cool, but on the other side, I find it to be a glorified baking mat.
I was given the opportunity to review Born Pretty Store’s small silicone stamping mat which is 21×15 cm. The big one is 28×15 cm, if you feel like you need the extra space.
The mat has a 3 cm ruler, two circles (one clear and one black), 5 clear rounded rectangles and 5 black rectangles. The mat comes rolled up in a tube that you can use for storing, which is super neat and space saving.
The mat allows you to test nail polish colors over black or clear, make diy decals, use with stamping, use as work surface to protect your table etc.
The mat is easy to clean with nail polish remover, and it doesn’t stain from the polish, even though I tried with dark colors and smeared it all over.
I like using it beneath my stamping plates where I usually use a piece of paper, because when you scrape the plate, some polish scrapes off to the work surface.
I use it to test nail powders over black and white without having to do it on the nails. Even the nail powders, which usually gets EVERYWHERE, easily sticks to the cotton pad with nail polish remover, and there were no particles left after a couple of swipes. I use it to test images from stamping plates and for quickly discarding stamping images where I didn’t get a complete, crisp transfer.
I want to try to use it for making diy decals as well, because it seems like it will be much easier than using a plastic bag.
The silicone makes sure that the mat sticks to the table and doesn’t slide anywhere.
I am glad that I got a chance to try it. I can imagine that once I get more used to having it, I will find more uses for it and thus use it more. Already, it saves me several pieces of paper (/paper towels) each week, which is more sustainable in the long run.
For the low price of $5,99 it is worth having for sustainability alone – anything else you can think of using it for is just an added bonus.
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Thanks for the review! I have been contemplating whether I need one at all – I see people making decals etc on them & have heard some say it’s easier to fill in decals on a mat than a stamper, but somehow it seems like a waste when my dollar store silicone baking mat is working fine… Have you tried it for decals? Can you think of any advantages over a baking mat?
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Hey! I have gotten around to trying to make decals, and it is very easy! I used a quick dry top coat, and it peeled off really easily. I had the same thought regarding a regular baking mat, and to be honest, I think it would work just as well considering they are both silicone mats, even though I haven’t actually tried it.. I guess the advantage in terms of doing it on the mat instead of the stamper is that you can make multiple decals at a time on the mat whereas you can only do one at a time on a stamper. I would love to hear your thoughts if you try a regular baking mat!
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Thanks for sharing your experience with it! I’ve tried on my baking mat, but it seems to puff up a little where I place the drops of polish to fill in with. I’m not sure if it’s because mine is a cheap one from the dollar store, but it happens everytime. Also, it’s easy to peel off a decal that’s quite thick but thinner ones are a little trickier (though doable).
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It seems like the nail art mat is the better option then.. Maybe it is coated differently or something. I didn’t have problems with peeling any off, no matter their thickness.
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Thanks so much for helping me decide!
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No problem! And thank you for confirming me that I chose the best option after all 🙂
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